A tale of 38 Studios, Steam, IP blocks and an unplayble game (RPS please help!)

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Yes there are huge numbers of people who attempt the same thing, bypassing regional restrictions, getting cheap games from Russia, trying to use steam to buy games in countries where its not legal for steam the game in, etc...

I thought this subject was dealt with before

Region bypass for censorship hasn't resulted in the hard-lock described here, nor has buying out of region games and having them gifted. The Russian guy got busted because he was doing it for money and advertising it (as some people have done on RPS). This case can quite easily be distinguished from all of those, because in this case the game simply isn't out in Japan.

Did you actually read what the problem was? He has every right to be upset, especially considering every party involved from Steam to 38Studios to EA (who are probably least at fault here) is just shuffling responsibility to each other.

The OP bought the game in the UK. It works fine in the UK. (EDIT: It turns out he never bought it in the UK, a friend of his did and gifted it to him in Japan...)

He expects the game to work in Japan, when steam never had the rights to sell or distribute the game in Japan.

He can complain all he wants, but it's not going to change the fact that steam doesn't currently have the right to sell or distribute the game in Japan. If they did, they would. Maybe there's some hangup since one of the companies involved just laid everyone off?

He is expecting steam to break their signed contracts and make themselves liable for large judgements by offering the game in a country they have no right to do so in.

Steam would essentially be pirating the software.
It's not a reasonable expectation.

If a game is blocked from purchase in the country you want to play it in, and you buy it in another country, it might work, it might not. The risk is all yours in this situation. The distributor owes you nothing.

There are huge numbers of people trying to buy cheap games from faraway Russia on steam and get it to work in other regions, trading and gifting and so on. Often times there are huge pricing discrepancies between different regions, so it is epidemic and the motivation is high.

Region bypass for censorship hasn't resulted in the hard-lock described here, nor has buying out of region games and having them gifted. The Russian guy got busted because he was doing it for money and advertising it (as some people have done on RPS). This case can quite easily be distinguished from all of those, because in this case the game simply isn't out in Japan.

You are pretending that it is unusual for a publisher to offer a game for sale in some regions but not others.
That is not true. So this is not a special case as you claim.

It's not always for censorship reason. Sometimes there are different publishers for different regions.

There are new locks from steam in the past month for games in russia, they now lock gifts and they didn't before.

@Nalano My Steam account is fully usable. I've never had it blocked/suspended/disabled and so forth. The only problem I ever had with a purchase on Steam was as a result of a server issue on their end and was cleared up within hours of reporting it to support. When it comes to giving money to Valve, their support is very fast to resolve problems!

@Kadayi, @Xune VPN, eye patches, etc., are possible sure. But both risk the loss of my Steam account. I'm not happy about being forced to do either.

@NathanH I didn't ask for a refund, but I heard from others who did, that Valve refused them as the game was already released. Hearing that, I decided not to waste my time.

@RogerMellie Yeah. We found out too late that it's only the Steam version that is IP blocked. I eventually found a topic on the Reckoning forums where 38 Studios were telling those asking that ALL versions were IP blocked -- including the Origin one -- and that they were working to get the game released in Japan soon. So they've been giving out misinformation all over.

The Steam issued CD key, however, does not register to Origin and their support staff have been told to refuse the manual activation of such keys as EA are not the publisher.

@Soldant No it was not made available for purchase on Steam in Japan, but I purchased it in the UK -- I am a Brit here on business. As I also stated, several of us had asked Steam support whether the game would be usable and we were all told that "Purchases made directly through Steam are not restricted by territory." Further, there was no notice on the store page, such as their is on the Russian store page for Max Payne 3 or the store page for Dead Rising Off the Record, warning customers that the game is not usable in Japan.

@BenWah, please re-read the first post in this topic. Your entire argument is voided by the fact that Valve tell customers asking about the issue that "Purchases made directly through Steam are not restricted by territory." A line they STILL tell customers asking about other unadvertized blocks. Do you also find it acceptable that Valve allow the trading/gifting of games outside of regions where they will be usable without warning either party? Take Torchlight 2 as a current example. People are being stuck with Russian copies that blocked from play outside of Russia, yet the Steam gifting/trading system has done nothing to prevent them from adding those games to their account. This problem gets even more complicated when different region versions are not displayed until AFTER the trade/gift is added to an acount.

@Soldant, Regarding games not being released in Japan, I have also read about the issue they had with FEAR3. Now that game WAS sold in Japan as an English language version by the publisher on Steam as a preorder as well as on GamersGate and GreenManGaming even after release. Yet the game remained IP blocked until 2 months after the local Japanese language PC release. So things aren't as simple as the game simply not being available in Japan. It also happens when the game is!

Kiril, wouldn't an account signing in from Europe and then, say, an hour later from Japan raise digital eyebrows with Valve's account security algorithms? I'd imagine if you intended to use a VPN or other proxy, you'd have to use it permanently to avoid raising suspision.

I have used VPN's to activate a game bought on US Amazon.com on steam. Dead Island was the last one, I did. I know people that have used it to activate games early on Steam. Once, or a few times, to activate doesn't raise suspicion, there is millions of users on steam all activating at the same time, 1 is noticed, there has to be a pattern or else they can't prove it. Purchasing or using it a lot will raise suspicion, especially with Russian markets etc.

The OP has bought the game, but if what I read is right, he got it before its release and pre-loaded it, so if he were to VPN he could activate it. The problem isn't with buying in one country and playing in another. It was never released where he is, so it was never unlocked. They haven't blocked the game in Japan, they just haven't given the unlock codes to Japan IPs.

@BenWah: before buying the game he asked Steam support whether it was region-restricted or not. Steam said it wasn't, so he bought it in the UK. He also proloaded it (I guess still in the UK).

So if what you say about the contractual obligations of Steam is correct, he should still get a full refund due to 1) not having used the service and 2) they stating he would have been able to use the service, don't you think?

He expects the game to work in Japan, when steam never had the rights to sell or distribute the game in Japan.

So? You don't seem to get the difference between selling it and playing it. I'm not sure if you're confused or what. If I buy something, anything, in the UK, I can then take it to another country with me. There's no charge to be answered in terms of illegally selling it to someone in Japan because it was sold to someone in the UK. That they then took it with them shouldn't be a Valve issue at all. Indeed, I'm fairly sure if someone activated it in the UK and then went to Japan it'd work fine. Including being able to re-download and update it.

Regional restrictions are bullshit in this day and age. And so what if people are bying products cheap through Russia? Corporations are perfectly happy outsourcing jobs to get the best deal, yet they actively block consumers from trying to do the same? Globalisation should cut both ways.

What problem? Look, everything you are saying is entirely correct but irrelevant. He bought the game from the UK while he was in the UK. Paid for, transaction complete, game purchased. So any legal shenanigans about where Steam can and can't legally sell the game shouldn't matter. As you say when you move between regions, games keep working (I'd be interested to know the problem ones).

The issue here seems to be Steam offered a pre-purchase, he bought it, moved before release date, and then couldn't activate. So he fell in an awkward gap. I'm guessing if he'd bought and activated the game here and then moved, he'd be fine. My suggestion is he just give his login details to a friend/relative in the UK, get them to activate it, then see if he can play it.

It turns out he never bought the game in the UK.

He never bought the game at all from steam.

His friend in the UK bought and gifted it to him over steam while he was in Japan.

That means he would be activating it for the first time in Japan, where it has not been released, and where the publisher has not authorized sales.

He lives in Japan, and a friend in the UK bought it and gifted it to him over steam.

Originally Posted by IHaveNoIdea

...

You may recall that back in February, a game called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was released on the PC. The game was made available through Steam (and other places). Knowing that this game was getting DLC in the future and that I was to be leaving the UK to temporarily work in Japan (for a few years), I decided that Steam was the best place to purchase the game.

I made that choice, as did others, knowing that even if the game was not available in Japan, it would be possible to have friends in the UK, etc., gift the DLC when it was released. This idea was further endorsed by Steam supports' assurance that "Purchases made directly through Steam are not restricted by territory." ...

Lukasz, I think we're being trolled here, smile and move on. Personal insults and repeatedly missing the point of the discussion, despite it being pointed out and explained by a number of other posters, doesn't happen by accident. Well played BenWah.

Read the link I provided, where the OP posts many messages in another forum (the official Kingdom of Amalur forum), and confesses that the game was actually given to him as a gift.
His message here was less than honest it turns out.

@BenWah, Do you also find it acceptable that Valve allow the trading/gifting of games outside of regions where they will be usable without warning either party? Take Torchlight 2 as a current example. People are being stuck with Russian copies that blocked from play outside of Russia, yet the Steam gifting/trading system has done nothing to prevent them from adding those games to their account. This problem gets even more complicated when different region versions are not displayed until AFTER the trade/gift is added to an acount.

Hello OP, I appreciate that you are so well informed about trading issues on steam with Russia.

It sounds like you have much experience with these trading and gifting regional issues with Russia.

Somehow I knew this already after your first message, it didn't take psychic powers to guess.

Oh by the way, steam has been adding the regional block for gifts from russia past two week, so these issues are getting fixed.

That's interesting, assuming they are the same people then our OP has not been as forthcoming as they should have been. Are you Ogiue, IHaveNoIdea? Your stories are very similar.

I'm curious though BenWah, if you suspected this why would you argue crosswise to the point everyone else was making based on the OP (that games bought in one region should be playable in another V's a game should be purchasable anywhere regardless), instead of just airing your suspisions? As deano said: "everything you are saying is entirely correct but irrelevant".

Also, little tip, asking someone if they are "just playing stupid or are you really that dumb?" or saying that a person's statement is "intensely retarded" won't do anything for your arguments credibility.

@BenWah FYI, I do not have a registered account on the reckoning forums. The person posting there is not me. They are just another person who is in the same situation.

For matter if you search more, you'll find posts from people who purchased the game in the US then moved here too. They too are in the same situation.

I also know of someone who traded for the game on Steam after support told them it would be playable.

Also @BenWah, I have never used Steam's trading system. I only know about the problems with Russia because I read the Steam forums. There's a topic on the Torchlight 2 forums where people are mentioning the problem with the RU versions. There have been many other topics in the General forum and the Suggestions forums mentioning the lack of identification of regional copies.